Stereo and planar PIV methods provide a continuous vector field overlaid on a planar surface. A subset of the more general topological considerations are ideally suited for the evaluation of such vector fields. Namely, these methods can: i) identify the singular points and assign their correct index values, and ii) determine if the identified singular points satisfy the Poincare-Hopf theorem. Hence, once a specific vector field is established, the methods presented in this paper can be used to evaluate the kinematic attributes of the vector field and to ensure that the identified singular points represent a topologically valid vector field.